Pocketed aerial projectile game apparatus



March 1, 1966 G, VELKAS POCKETED AERIAL PROJEGTILE GAME APPARATUS FiledApril 29, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. George Val/((18 I I. I

March 1, 1966 G. VELKAS 3,237,946

POCKETED AERIAL PROJECTILE GAME APPARATUS Filed April 29, 1965 3Sheets-Sheet 2 pousu: Q ZBASES a 2 I INVENTOR. 1 George Val/(a5 14FOP/V545 March 1, 1966 G. VELKAS 3,237,946

POGKETED AERIAL PROJECTILE GAME APPARATUS Filed April 29, 1963 3Sheets-Sheet 3 NE TWO gums STRIKES i i z i i INVENTOR.

George Val/(a6 l9 W ATTOP/VEYS United States Patent 3,237,946 POCKETEDAERIAL PROJECTILE GAME APPARATUS George Vellras, Flushing, N.Y.,assignor to Embassy Metal Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation ofNew York Filed Apr. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 276,356 4 Claims. (Cl. 273-95)This invention relates to the art of game devices and more particulalyconcerns a pinball or bagatelle type of game in which a player performsactions simulating those of a player in a sport such as baseball.

According to one form of the invention, there is provided a bat shapedlike a baseball bat having a tapered hollow body. The bat has atransparent wall through which is visible a scoreboard carrying aplurality of pockets, each marked with appropriate scoring indicia. Aball is loosely disposed in the hollow bat body. The player swings thebat he would have swung an actual baseball bat which throws the ball outfrom a starting position in the handle. When the player raises andstills the bat, the ball will roll back into one of the pockets toeifect a score. According to another form a suitable manuallyoperatedlever is provided to control a catch for retaining the ball in startingposition until the player elects to release the ball. Thus, the playercan make practice swings of the bat without releasing the ball, and whenthe player is ready he operates the lever to release the ball, takes aswing, so that a score will be made.

It is, therefore, one object of the invention to provide a simulatedgame device in which a player swings the game device in the same manneras in playing the sports, to displace a scoring ball movable in a hollowtransparent body of the device to engage the ball in a scoring pocketwithin the game body.

Another object is to provide a game device in the form of a bat or clubhaving a tapered hollow transparent body, with a scoring ball movable inthe body over a scoreboard having a plurality of pockets in any one ofwhich the scoring ball may engage.

Another object is to provide a game device as described wherein amanually-operated cat-ch means is provided to retain the scoring ball ina starting position inside the hollow body until the player operates thecatch means to release the ball.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a game device embodying thefeatures of the invention, and in which the device has the shape of abaseball bat.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale takengenerally on line 2-2 of FIG. '1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken generally on line 33 of"FIG. '2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3, partbeing broken away.

FIG. 5 is a vfragmentary vertical sectional view taken generally on line55 of FIG. 2, showing an individual pocket with a scoring ball therein.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one part of the game device of FIG. 1,shown on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a modified baseballbat with means for retaining the scoring ball while practice swings aremade.

Patented Mar. 1, 1966 FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken online 8-8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a front longitudinal sectional view taken generally on line1010 of FIG. 8.

Referring first to FIGS. 16, there is shown a game device 10 in the formof a baseball hat. The bat has a long tapered hollow body 12 and ahollow cylindrical handle 14 extending from the narrow end of thetapered body. The wider end of body 12 is closed by a circular cap 16with a rounded end. The tapered bat body 12 is made of opaque plasticmaterial. A long trapezoidal score plate 18 extends diametrically acrossand throughout the length of the body 12. The upper wider end of theplate fits into a groove 18' formed on the fiat circular underside ofthe cap 16. The plate has a plurality of integral tapered pockets 20with open wider upper ends. The pockets extend outwardly of the plane ofthe plate 18 to one side thereof.

Baseball scoring indicia 22 are marked on the front face of score plate18 above the open end of each of the pockets 20. A small scoring ball 25is disposed in the hollow body 12 and rests in a starting position on acircular plug 26 as shown in FIGS. 1-4. This ball can be engaged in anyof the pockets 20 but will extend out of the open end of the pocket asclearly shown in FIG. 5. Plug 26 is seated on a ledge 28 formed at thenarrow end of the tapered hollow body 12 at the upper end of handle 14.The tapered body 12 has an open side which is closed by a taperedtransparent shell-like wall'part 30, FIG. 6. This wall has its upperwider arcuate end 31 engaged at recess 32 formed at the periphery of cap'16. The bottom, narrow end 33 of the wall is secured to the handle 14.Grooves 29 at edges of wall 30 engage lateral edges of the score plate18; see FIGS. 4 and 6.

semicircular ribs 36 of progressively large radius of curvature extendtransversely of body 12 integral with its inner semiconical Wall face.These ribs engage in grooves 38 formed in the rear side 23 of plate 18and hold the plate stationary in the body 12. Pockets 20 and indicia 22are clearly visible through the transparent wall 30 which is disposedopposite the scoring plate 18. The free end of the handle 14 is closedby a circular end wall 17 provided with an annular bead 19.

According to the modified baseball bat shown in FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10,and generally at 10, the handle :14 has a longitudinally extending slot40 across which extends a pintle 42 pivotally engaging a lever -44. Theinner end of the lever has a rounded tip 46 which bears on the undersideof a flange 48 secured to the bottom end of an axially-movable shaft 50.The upper end of the shaft passes slidably through an axial hole 52formed in the plug 26. A coil spring 55 on the shaft bears on flange 48and tends to retract the shaft downwardly. The shaft 50 is stopped byengagement of the inner lever end against the inner side of handle 14 asclearly shown in FIG. 7. In this retracted position of the shaft, theouter end 49 of the lever 14 extends out of slot 40 in adownwardlyinclined position.

The upper end 51 of shaft 50 extends upwardly beyond plug 2-6 and issemi-cylindrical in form. The flat side of the shaft end slidably abutsthe front side 21 of score plate 18. The free end of the shaft is formedwith an inverted semiconical tip 53. This tips forms an obstruction toprevent ball 25 from passing into the wider end of the tapered scoringcompartment C defined'between wall 30 and score plates 18. The ball 25is thus contained in a small space C defined between wall 30, plate 18,plug 26 and tip 53, at the lower end of the compartment C.

If the trigger end 49 of lever 44 is depressed radially inward of handle16 as indicated by arrow A in FIG. 7, then shaft 50 will be liftedaxially upward against tension in spring 55. The tip 53 will then moveto the dotted line position shown in FIG. 7, where compartment C issomewhat wider, so that ball 25 can pass freely out of space C and intocompartment C. The shaft 50 with associated spring 55 and lever 44 serveas a manually operable catch to restrain the ball within compartment Cuntil the player presses the trigger end 49 of the lever, whereupon theball 25 is released.

In the playing the game, the player can hold the handle 14 of the devicelike a conventional baseball bat and make several practice swings beforereleasing the ball 25. The ball 25 will remain in starting position inthe space C. If the player presses trigger end 49 of the lever 44inwardly during a subsequent swing of the bat, the playing ball 25 willbe thrown through compartment C to the flat inner end face of cap 16.Then as the player turns the bat to an axially upright position with cap16 uppermost, the ball 25 will roll down plate 18 or will fall downthrough compartment C and may be caught in any one of the pockets 20.The score marking 22 indicates what score the player has made. This maybe a strike, 'ball, home run or other play score. If the ball does notland in any pocket it will fall down to the bottom of compartment Cwhich is a strike out score.

To start the next play, the player will first restore ball 25 to space Cwhich is at the starting position of the ball. If desired, the bottomend of compartment C with the ball 25 resting on tip 53 of shaft 50 maybe used as starting position. Then the player need not press trigger 49to release the ball since the ball will be free to move in compartment Cand operate as with the bat of the form shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, and willroll or be thrown toward cap 16 when the player swings the bat. Playsare scored according to the scoring indicia 22 and two or more playerscan use the game device to play a competitive game.

It will be apparent that the game can be embodied in bats and clubs suchas used in other sports, golf, polo, lacrosse and the like. It can beembodied in playing balls of other sports such as volleyball, soccer,etc. In any case the player handles and executes the motion of a playingbat or ball in a manner simulating the motion of a standard playing bator ball of the sport the game device simulates. The scoring indica inthe game device will always be appropriate to the particular sport forwhich the game device is intended.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes andmodifications may be made within the scope of the invention as definedin the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A game device, comprising a hollow tapered body, said body having atapered transparent wall, a tapered plate in said body defining a long,tapered compartment with said transparent wall, said plate having aplurality of tapered pockets extending into said compartment, saidpockets all having wider ends open to the wider end of said compartment,a scoring ball freely movable in said compartment between narrow andwider ends thereof for engaging in any one of the pockets to effect ascore in the game, said plate having scoring indicia thereon adja centeach of the pockets for indicating a score in the game, and manuallyoperable catch means in the narrow end of the compartment for retainingthe scoring ball thereat until said catch means is manually operated torelease the ball while said body is swung to displace the ball from saidnarrow end of said compartment.

2. A game device, comprising a hollow body, said body having atransparent wall, a plate in said body defining a long compartment withsaid transparent wall, said plate having a plurality of pockets thereonextending into said compartment with an open end in each pocket, theopen ends of the pockets all being open to one end of said comp'arement,said plate having scoring indicia thereon adjacent each of the pocketsfor indicating a score in the game, a scoring ball =freely movable insaid compartment to engage in any one of the pockets for effecting ascore in said game, and manually operable catch means at the other endof said compartment for retaining the scoring ball thereat until saidcatch means is manually operated to release said ball while said body ismoved to displace the ball from said other end of said body.

3. A game device, comprising a hollow tapered body, said body having atapered transparent wall, a tapered plate in said body defining a long,tapered compartment with said transparent wall, said plate having aplurality of tapered pockets extending into said compartment, saidpockets all having wider ends open to the wider end of said compartment,and a scoring ball freely movable in said compartment between narrow andwider ends thereof for engaging in any one of the pockets to effect ascore in the game, said plate having scoring indicia thereon adjacenteach of the pockets for indicating a score in the game, a plug at thenarrow end of said compartment, a shaft slidably disposed in said plug,said body having a narrow hollow extension defining a handle, saidhandle having a lateral slot, a lever pivotally mounted in said slot,spring means biasing the shaft in a retracted position to bear on oneend of said lever so that the other end of the lever extends out of theslot, said shaft having a radially extending tip for retaining the ballat the narrow end of said compartment, whereby said ball is released byaxial extension movement of the shaft in said compartment upon pivotalmovement of said lever.

4. A game device, comprising a hollow tapered body, said body having atapered transparent wall, a tapered plate in said body defining a long,tapered compartment with said transparent wall, said plate having aplurality of tapered pockets extending into said compartment, saidpockets all having wider ends open to the wider end of said compartment,a scoring ball freely movable in said compartment between narrow andwider ends thereof for engaging in any one of the pockets to effect ascore in the game, said plate having scoring indicia thereon adjacenteach of the pockets for indicating a score in the game, said body havinga narrow hollow extension defining a handle for manual grasping to swingsaid body and move the scoring ball in said compartment, and manuallyoperable catch means in the narrow end of the compartment for retainingthe scoring ball thereat until said catch means is manually operated torelease the ball while said body is swung to displace the ball from saidnarrow end of said compartment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS DELBERT B. LOWE,Primary Examiner. M. R. PAGE, Assistant Examiner.

2. A GAME DEVICE, COMPRISING A HOLLOW BODY, SAID BODY HAVING ATRANSPARENT WALL, A PLATE IN SAID BODY DEFINING A LONG COMPARTMENT WITHSAID TRANSPARENT WALL, SAID PLATE HAVING A PLURALITY OF POCKETS THEREONEXTENDING INTO SAID COMPARTMENT WITH AN OPEN END IN EACH POCKET, THEOPEN ENDS OF THE POCKETS ALL BEING OPEN TO ONE END OF SAID COMPARTMENT,SAID PLATE HAVING SCORING INDICIA THEREON ADJACENT EACH OF THE POCKETSFOR INDICATING A SCORE IN THE GAME, A SCORING BALL FREELY MOVABLE INSAID COMPARTMENT TO ENGAGE IN ANY ONE OF THE POCKETS FOR EFFECTING ASCORE IN SAID GAME, AND MANUALLY OPERABLE CATCH MEANS AT THE OTHER ENDOF SAID COMPARTMENT FOR RETAINING THE SCORING BALL THEREAT UNTIL SAIDCATCH MEANS IS MANUALLY OPERATED TO RELEASE SAID BALL WHILE SAID BODY ISMOVED TO DISPLACE THE BALL FROM SAID OTHER END OF SAID BODY.